Report: FBI Has Spreadsheets Detailing Payments to Families of College Basketball Players
Among the reams of evidence collected by the FBI in its investigation of college basketball corruption are meticulous records of payments and scheduled payments to the families of players, Yahoo’s Pete Thamel and Pat Forde report.
The evidence is tied to former NBA agent Andy Miller and an associate of his, Christian Dawkins, who was arrested in September as part of the FBI’s probe. Miller, the founder and president of ASM Sports, relinquished his NBPA certification after Dawkins’s arrest.
“Sources familiar with the probe told Yahoo Sports that there’s a surprising level of specificity in the documents, bank records and wiretaps involving Miller’s business,” Yahoo reports. “They include exact dollar figures and intricate documentation of payments to the families of college players. There are also conversations brokering deals between Dawkins and the clients he was recruiting.”
Dawkins was notably tied to Louisville’s recruitment of top prospect Brian Bowen. Dawkins told an undercover FBI agent that he had “spoken with [Louisville head coach Rick Pitino] about getting additional money for [Bowen’s’] family.” But the evidence collected by the FBI could implicate many more players.
“There are spreadsheets detailing who got paid, how much they got paid and how much more they were planning to pay,” Yahoo quotes a source as saying. “The feds got everything they wanted and much more. Don’t think it will only be players who ended up signing with ASM that got paid. Those spreadsheets cast a wide net throughout college basketball. If your school produced a first-round pick in the past three years, be worried.”
The scandal broke on Sept. 26 when several coaches, agents and other college hoops figures were arrested on federal conspiracy charges. Arizona, Louisville, Auburn, Miami, USC and Oklahoma State are all named specifically in the criminal complaint.
